


Forum Romanum

by carmenta



Category: Vampire Chronicles - Rice
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-05-01
Updated: 1999-05-01
Packaged: 2017-10-08 02:34:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/71793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmenta/pseuds/carmenta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two vampires at the place which has once been the center of the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forum Romanum

Rome. The Eternal City. A vast jungle of streets and houses, and lost in the middle of all that the ruins of a people that had been the greatest of its time. Now the open space called Forum Romanum, that shadow of the beauty it had shown before, was tourist attraction, graveyard and hunting ground at the same time. The stones that had formed temples built to the glory of the gods were now nothing more than the scattered parts of something that would never return.

She sat on steps that led nowhere, in front of the ruin that had once been Minerva's sanctuary, and watched the last visitors leave. They were typical tourists, with cameras and giant maps, who had only come here because it was considered a duty to see as many devastated, ruined places as possible. They would spend the rest of the evening in one of the more entertaining places. She had been there too, but felt strange, misplaced. Clubs and bars were something that she did neither understand nor like. Too loud, too crammed. The music hurt her ears, the smoke of the cigarettes burned in her eyes. She wondered what made these places so attractive to mortals, but then mortals could be so strange. In groups they wandered to the Piazza Navona to drink Grappa and sat on the Spanish steps in crowds, chatting, drawn to the locations like the moths to the flame. Sometimes, when she couldn't find a victim anywhere else, she joined them; a blonde always attracted admirers there who were willing to follow her in a dark alley. They expected something else from her than death, though.

Being mortal was something she had never missed in two hundred years, other than her son. But even he had realized that it wasn't the glorious existence it seemed to be, and had turned his back on it. And then he had done another foolish thing when he had made another fledgling, who had always resented the Gift and who had finally been forced to take it. During the first years she had feared that he would go the way of so many who couldn't come to terms with their new life. Immortality was hard to deal with if taken out of free will, and nearly impossible to cope with if it was given without consent. But this one had come to like it, and had even found a duty in collecting knowledge as he had done all his life for his order. Mortal habits were hard to shake off.

The thirst raged in her, it was not as violent as it had been during her time as a fledgling, but strong enough. Soon the first creatures of the night, as she called them, the drug dealers, whores and little criminals, would come and claim the Forum as their territory for the dark hours, dancing on the stage that presented itself in the very heart of the city as they had done countless years before. And she would pick her victim among them, who weren't missed and weren't mourned, always the lonely, silent predator.

She had been sleeping in the cool ground that night, as she did most of the time. Hotels were for other people, for those who lived and functioned in the artificial world they had created. But she was a child of another century, a time when such simple things as ballpens and zippers had been unthinkable. The surface changed rapidly, but the earth beneath was still the same. To sleep there gave her comfort and made her feel at home, and she did it as often as possible. Maybe that was the reason why she had never gone underground like so many of the others.

Scanning, she found that the first participants of the never-ending dance had already arrived and were hurrying through the deserted ruins. She stood up in one fluid movement, graceful like a cat, and followed them silently, waiting for them to stop at their hiding place.

They were moving fast, as if haunted by a ghost. She could even feel their fear to be discovered. They were thinking that the police were following them, and hoped that they could escape them in the dead city of the Forum. Well, maybe they could shake the police loose, but they couldn't escape her. She scanned again and found that they were two of the numerous little drug dealers. Nothing the community would miss. Coming closer, she hid in the shadows as they did. She could already see them, smelled the sweat and the blood. Their heartbeats were loud to her, a delicate sound of sweet life, life that would stop soon. They were hiding in the remains of the Basilica now, pressing their hot bodies against the cold stone wall.

She stepped closer until she was within their reach. If the one on the left had stretched his arm, he would have been able to touch her face. One of them moved, causing some pebbles to roll over the remains of the marble floor. The noise was clearly audible, and both froze, listening if their pursuers had heard it. They would run away again now, but she didn't want to wait any longer. She moved towards them, too fast for their eyes to see. And collided with something that hadn't been there a moment ago.

Stumbling, she fell on her knees and rolled on her back. Frantically scanning her surroundings for a trace of danger, she cane to her feet in an instant, backing up against the wall. She was ready to defend herself against whatever could be threatening her.

A slim, tall figure emerged from the shadows, and in the dim moonlight she could see who had interrupted her hunting. There was no way mistaking the long brown hair that was flowing freely down the other's back, the narrow waist and the pale, nearly white face with the high cheekbones. Dressed casually in jeans and a shirt knotted below her bosom, showing her navel, she looked stunning, a woman who truly belonged into this time.

"It appears that we have the same taste regarding our hunting grounds" Pandora said, smiling. "Forgive me for disturbing you, I didn't know that anybody else is here besides me."

"Neither did I", she answered, brushing the dirt from her thighs and arms. Raking her fingers through her tangled hair she hadn't brushed in weeks, she quickly pulled some lose strands back into her braid. "It seems that we both are too good at veiling our presence." In the corner of her eye she caught a movement. One of the mortals was attempting to sneak away. She smiled at Pandora. "There are two of them, enough for both of us. Do you want to feed with me?" Pandora laughed quietly and nodded.

"How could I possibly decline such an invitation?" Gabrielle nodded and went after the fleeing one. In an instant she had caught him in a tight embrace, her mouth at his throat, finding the artery immediately with the practice of centuries. He tried to fight her, but gave up when the blood loss made him swoon. As soon as she felt his heart beat stop, she drew back and dropped the body to the ground, quickly digging a hole to cover up the kill. In the middle of all these ruins nobody would wonder too much about another corpse. Everybody knew that the Forum was often used as a graveyard by criminals, nobody questioned the origins or the age of the human remnants that were found sometimes during excavations. Pandora, who had already hid her victim in the soft, damp earth, came and helped her to cover the corpse with earth and the broken capitell of a marble pillar.

"So, what are you doing here?" Gabrielle asked when they had finished, rubbing her dirty hands over her thighs. Pandora shrugged.

"I just wanted to return to the city of my birth. It has been a long time since I have been here, and so I thought it would be nice to return here again. I love the city, it's so vivid and unique.' Pandora looked at her, a smile on her lips. "How do you feel about spending the night with me? We could hunt for some gorgeous young Romans on the Spanish Steps." Gabrielle hesitated.

"These crowds are not really - " Pandora interrupted her with a quick gesture of her hand.

"I am sure that you will like it." Gabrielle sighed, and a smile crossed her face. Stuffing her fists into the pockets of her coat, she settled on the rests of a wall.

"You have persuaded me, ma chere, I will join you." She blew some blond hairs out of her face. "It's not as if I had a choice." Pandora took her hands and pulled her along.

"Wonderful. Come, or the night will be over before it has even started." Laughing, Gabrielle jumped gracefully from her stone seat and followed her. Together, they disappeared in the dark.


End file.
